caulfield12

You've obviously never watched a live game in Japan Korea Taiwan Mexico or Latin America in general...

Probably the Korean pitcher the White Sox helped with intl.bonus pool money lol. Dodgers might as well sign the Korean outfielder too and control all of Asia...sets up a huge battle for him with SD and SF. Mariners fans have to be getting antsy now too. Dylan Cease Trade Show starts in earnest now...obviously.

Where was Bauer lol? At least Dave Roberts can breathe a sigh of relief again. Toronto got de-pantsed like Sox with Machado/Wheeler/Harper. Thought they were relevant.

https://www.latimes.com/sports Look at that LA Times image...sharp. MLB Intl marketing just blew up 3-5X.

Almost every pitching expert has come to conclusion he has roughly 3-4 more years of shelf life on the pitching side of things.

Was execting $500-550 million after the pitching injury...this number is just shocking. It's almost like LIV trying to buy out the PGA...except it's one franchise. The Yankees/Red Sox don't even seem relevant in the face of this kind of move. (Yet everyone recalls the initial reaction in STL to Pujols leaving. Things don't always go as planned.)

Just think of all the players around the world in Latin America and even places like India China etc., who will now take up the sport... It's actually a huge boon for baseball because it will force out the owners who are unwilling to spend in order to compete. Kansas City, for example, spent 10-15 years protesting the Evil Empire Yankees....and finally did some things about it with two World Series titles in a row. Dodgers still have lots of ifs in the starting rotation with Kershaw Urias Buehler Gonsolin May criminal charges/injuries/recoveries.

Pretty sure that will end up doubling all new AL Central offseason spending by all FIVE teams combined... Also, understandable why Boras and Harper were already talking extension/re-negotiations lol.

Unless they become a super team like the Patriots or the mid to late 90s Yankees...the combination of those two brands (LAD/Ohtani) still lifts the sport because he's almost impossible to ignore like he was with the Angels not making the postseason.

Red Sox Cubs Giants now under huge pressure. Basically the entire NL West. Watch it end up like Pujols to LAA.

Might have sold around 100 Benintendi jerseys all of last year. Ohtani would sell that amount per Chicago block.

Can't even imagine anyone buying a Sox jersey other Luis Robert, Jr., right now. Who would it possibly be? You can't risk Eloy...likely trade bait. Same with Cease or Kopech. So Montgomery would be the only other logical choice. (And another reason dumping Burger hurts right now.)

Not only that...but Montgomery increasingly being considered a future 3B instead of SS also hurts. Or even a corner outfielder. Then you're also looking at Ramos at second (if Montgomery shifts) and Gonzalez with nowhere left to go. Just trying hard to imagine someone with limited athleticism we repeatedly keep reading about being more than a utility type. Baffling baffling pick...

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-12-08/shohei-ohtani-free-agency-japanese-reporters-move

https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/inside-the-blue-jays-elaborate-pitch-to-woo-shohei-ohtani-to-toronto https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/mlb/ohtani-fever-grips-social-media-as-blue-jays-rumours-run-rampant

https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-dolphin-ryan-fitzpatrick-tua-174918502.html Football is obviously a quite different and distinctive sport…but will we ever see quotes like this about a Grifol-led staff? Yogi Berra quote about baseball being 90% mental and the other half physical comes to mind. Or the psychological struggles of players like Konerko, Kopech, Carlos Quentin, Gordon Beckham and Jared Kelenic (Harold shoutout).

Where was Eder?

Maye vs Williams https://sports.yahoo.com/caleb-williams-or-drake-maye-heres-how-talent-evaluators-frame-the-2024-nfl-drafts-big-question-163711492.html Now a 4 to 7 split with evaluators

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/shohei-ohtani-free-agency-chaos-reigns-friday-with-flight-trackers-conflicting-reports-232934777.html Might want to take down the new enhanced thread title, lol 1:53 p.m.: A veteran Dodgers reporter says it's the Blue Jays This is when Ohtani-to-Toronto (Sho-eh? Sho-Jay?) passed the point of no return. Random fan speculation is one thing, but J.P. Hoornstra is a veteran reporter who has reported on the Dodgers for more than a decade and a half with the Southern California News Group. Now writing with Dodgers Nation, Hoornstra reported that Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays, citing "multiple sources." https://www.instagram.com/p/C0nILOROcX7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=bcc3a09a-5f8b-429e-8a1e-3465832a20c1 Shark Tanker actually the one on that plane to Toronto from CA

Reminiscent of the Hicks family…

The crazy thing to me is that the Brewers are already demanding nearly $300 million in stadium improvements... Or Arlington already having three ballparks in my lifetime. It's bizarre to go from the old stadium to attending an event hosted in stadium (yes the music from The Natural was involved) during the 1994 Winter Meetings at the "new" stadium back then to that airplane hanger monstrosity they have now down there in Texas. Yet another indicator or reminder of getting old.

If it's really a 67-33% split in the city...you'd have to think at least half of that minority would fall the Cubs' way. That they would begin to pretty closely mirror the Bears...and then not having to compete with advertisers/sponsors and alternative RSN programming all season long. Marquee would seemingly have more value...especially if they could peel the Blackhawks off. Then everything related to enhanced Japanese revenue streams interest jersey sales...reported at $300 million alone, and likely to grow unless Ohtani's pitching career totally ends.

We never got an apology from Hector Gomez, lol...

CLE getting the #1 overall pick doesn't help. That said, you can look at Rodon's draft year or Druw Jones' struggles to see even top 2 picks aren't even guarantees.

The problem is that Ohtani will soak up all the attention in the city...it's like Luis Robert won't even exist on the same planet. Just barely winning the AL Central once or twice a decade isn't enough to excite fans anymore, either. Not when a championship window was promised/promoted.